Herman: John L. Herman Jr., Author

Can Internet Businesses Skip Steps?...

My wife said young entrepreneurs want to start a business on the Internet and not the bricks-and-sticks companies like I have owned. And so she feels maybe they don’t necessarily want to hear from a geezer like me from the Stone Age types of enterprises.

Huh?

But, she does have a point. After all, she is a brilliant business woman who I listen to intently.

But, does starting a business on the Internet mean my teachings are irrelevant. Not so, to all you dot.com wannabees. Not so. You may not have rent to deal with, and you don’t have a territory or geography as such to factor into your plans…but in effect the lessons learned from real world companies are just as important in cyber-space.

Time spent in front of the small screen, pecking at the keyboard, or swirling the mouse around is just the same as if you had to sit at a desk, a counter, or slave over a stove in your real world endeavor. Inventory is inventory in both places. Paying others to help you comes into play in both worlds. And marketing is marketing. You have to find customers, site visitors, or downloaders to make a buck even in the cyber world or you will go broke.

One thing that may be different in cyber space is how long it takes from being live on the net with something and the speed with which customers respond. You can set up a store and it will sit and wait for proper business hours to be open. If it is in a Mall you must abide by the hours of all others just like you in the Mall…but on the Internet shops never close. Business goes on around the clock…every minute of every day. And perhaps that adds to the notion of instant gratification that plagues business owners who are young. They open a store and want instant success. Open a restaurant and close it when customers don’t flock there in the first year. Start something up and give up when money isn’t flowing immediately.

And the stories you hear are amazing. One of my daughter’s friends started collegehumor.com and later sold it for millions to Barry Diller’s company. Everyone hears about the Facebook guy, and the Google geniuses and think millions are on their way as soon as you come up with a cyber space idea.

Yes, the Internet is this centuries gold rush and people under thirty seem to be finding the most gold. But the rules of business still apply, commerce is commerce and maybe my wife is putting me out to pasture too soon.

• Posted: 25 March 2008
• Comments: 1
• Category: Business success

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